A Harare magistrate has postponed the ruling on an application filed by two Borrowdale men who erected an illegal billboard with denigrating information to a property developing company to Monday.The two suspects, Grant Russel of Fairclot Investrnents and Mark Strathen of Paragon Printing are facing criminal nuisance charges.The magistrate was initially expected to deliver the ruling Thursday but the pair's lawyer Tendai Biti asked for a postponement saying he has other commitments Thursday.The duo had filed an application for refusal of remand through their lawyer saying they have brighter chances of success in their application filed before the Supreme Court.They are also currently challenging a High Court order to proceed to trial in their matter after they unsuccessfully sought the court to quash their charges.They had filed an application for exception at the lower court saying the charges were defective and must be quashed, but then Harare magistrate Shane Kubonera dismissed the application saying they raised triable issues.Aggrieved by the dismissal of their application, they approached the High Court for review but the upper court again ordered them to proceed to trial and defend themselves.The State is represented by Shambadzeni Fungura who had been challenging accused persons to go to trial to no avail.It is the State’s case that on December 10, 2020 at around 2pm on the opposite side of Celebration Church in Borrowdale, Harare, the accused persons erected a billboard with damaging information on WestProperties in a bid to tarnish its image.It was alleged that Russell and Strathen caused false alarm to the public through the information which was written on the billboard.The State alleges that the offensive billboard had contents which were likely to interfere with the ordinary comfort or convinience of the complainant’s clients.The complainant made a report to the police, leading to their arrest.
